The Dispossessed

An astonishing tale of one man's search for utopia

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages

English language

Published Dec. 1, 1994 by Eos.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-105488-4

The story takes place on the fictional planet Urras and its moon Anarres (since Anarres is massive enough to hold an atmosphere, this is often described as a double planet system). In order to forestall an anarcho-syndical workers' rebellion, the major Urrasti states gave the revolutionaries the right to live on Anarres, along with a guarantee of non-interference, approximately two hundred years before the events of The Dispossessed.[2] Before this, Anarres had had no permanent settlements apart from some mining.

The protagonist Shevek is a physicist attempting to develop a General Temporal Theory. The physics of the book describes time as having a much deeper, more complex structure than we understand it. It incorporates not only mathematics and physics, but also philosophy and ethics. The meaning of the theories in the book weaves nicely into the plot, not only describing abstract physical concepts, but the ups and downs of …

Anarres is in theory a society without government or coercive authoritarian institutions. Yet in pursuing research that deviates from his society's current consensus understanding, Shevek begins to come up against very real obstacles. Shevek gradually develops an understanding that the revolution which brought his world into being is stagnating, and power structures are beginning to exist where there were none before. He therefore embarks on the risky journey to the original planet, Urras, seeking to open dialog between the worlds and to spread his theories freely outside of Anarres. The novel details his struggles on both Urras and his homeworld of Anarres.

The book also explores the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, that language shapes thinking, and thus, culture. The language spoken on the anarchist planet Anarres, Pravic, is a constructed language that reflects many aspects of the philosophical foundations of utopian anarchism. For instance, the use of the possessive case is strongly discouraged. In one scene, Shevek's daughter, meeting him for the first time, offers him "You can share the handkerchief I use,"[4] rather than "you may borrow my handkerchief", thus conveying the idea that the handkerchief is not owned by the girl, merely carried by her.[5] Cover of first paperback edition

The Dispossessed looks into the mechanisms that may be developed by an anarchist society, but also the dangers of centralization and bureaucracy that might easily take over such society without the continuation of revolutionary ideology. Part of its power is that it gives a spectrum of fairly well-developed characters, who illustrate many types of personalities, all educated in an environment that measures a person not by what he owns, but by what he can do, and how he relates to other human beings. Possibly the best example of this is the character of Takver, the hero's partner, who exemplifies many virtues: loyalty, love of life and living things, perseverance, and desire for a true partnership with another person.

The work is sometimes said to represent one of the few modern revivals of the utopian genre, [6] and there are certainly many characteristics of a utopian novel found in this book. Most obviously, Shevek is an outsider in Urras, following the "traveler" convention common in utopian literature. All of the characters portrayed in the novel have a certain spirituality or intelligence, there are no nondescript characters. It is also true to say that there are aspects of Anarres that are utopian: it is presented as a pure society that adheres to its own theories and ideals, which are starkly juxtaposed with Urras society.

However, the work is subtitled "An Ambiguous Utopia", and one of the major themes of the work is the ambiguity of different notions of utopia. Anarres is not presented as a perfect society, even within the constraints of what might define an anarchist utopia. Bureaucracy, stagnation, and power structures have problematized the revolution, as Shevek understands through the course of the novel. Moreover, Le Guin has painted a very stark picture of the natural and environmental constraints on society. Anarres citizens are forced to contend with a relatively sparse and unfruitful world. Hardship caused by lack of resources is a prominent theme, reflected in the title of the novel. Anarres citizens are dispossessed not just by political choice, but by the very lack of resources to possess. Here, again, Le Guin draws a contrast with the natural wealth of Urras, and the competitive behaviors this fosters. Le Guin's foreword to the novel notes that her anarchism is closely akin to that of Pyotr Kropotkin's, whose Mutual Aid closely assessed the influence of the natural world on competition and cooperation.[7] Le Guin's use of realism in this aspect of the work further problematizes — ambiguates — a simple utopian interpretation of the work. Anarres is not a perfect society, and Le Guin shows that no such thing is possible.

47 editions

franccecco@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Anarchia unica via?

5 stars

Le colpe e i meriti, le macchie e le luminosità della nostra vita sono solo merito nostro?

eneroenlaciudad@re.colectora.cc reviewed Los desposeídos by Ursula K. Le Guin (Biblioteca Ursula K. Le Guin)

Comentario recién terminada la lectura de Los desposeídos

5 stars

Si bien leí la mayor parte de la novela en Nono, en enero durante el verano, la terminé acá en casa, con mi gato Carbón de compañía, mimoso, cercano después de habernos extrañado muchos días. 📚🌱✨ Algún día haré la reseña, este es más bien un comentario que sale del momento recién terminado del libro, donde la expansión de todo lo que sentí y viví me rodea como una neblina o un refulgor, o capaz como la capa de polvo de Anarres. Es mucho, es intenso, es un poco abrumador. Me gusta escribir reseñas cuando ha pasado un tiempo, capaz hasta olvido algún detalle o personaje pero algo ha sedimentado y eso es justo lo que quiero contar. Confío en eso que queda como semilla para la reseña. Por ahora solo un punteo: La ingenuidad de Shevek como mirada de mundo, una ingenuidad que me permitió identificarme fuerte con su confianza en la humanidad a pesar de todo. El amor de Takver como un vínculo elegido para una promesa de vida. La lealtad primero y siempre. Defender la identidad colectiva aún a pesar del colectivo. La preciosa manera espiralada de contar la historia en dos temporalidades/espacialidades. Los abrigos de Urras llenos de bolsillos y una libreta con el punteo de una teoría que cambiaría la humanidad en el universo. Y el deseo de querer regalar ese conocimiento. Descubrir que, al haber leído La mano izquierda de la oscuridad primero, fue mi propio viaje en el tiempo saber algunas cosas antes que el propio protagonista. La emoción que me embargó cada vez que leí las ideas de que el viaje es el retorno (y aún no estoy segura de saber por qué me emociona o si me emociona por todo lo que puedo sumar a esas palabras).

Leaving_Marx@wyrmsign.org reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The dispossessed

5 stars

Listened to the '87 CBC audio drama of it and it was such a time capsule to audio productions from another era. The specific seductive feminine voice, the music, the way shevek sounds like he is the voice actor for some favourite Canadian children's cartoon.

cretinodicrescenzago reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #6)

Qualcunǝ era di sinistra, perché aveva letto della rivoluzione di Anarres

5 stars

[Vecchia recensione esportata da altro sito]

Iniziato entro un gruppo di lettura, lasciato a metà per sospensione del gruppo, ripreso in mano e terminato di volata durante l'estate (con una pausa in corrispondenza del mare), ne è valsa la pena fino all'ultima virgola – perché The Dispossessed potrebbe essere uno dei miei romanzi preferiti di sempre, a prescindere da epoca lingua e genere. Già sapevo dal ciclo di Terramare che zia Ursula è una maestra a rendere affascinanti e tangibili le vite quotidiane di società immaginarie ma plausibili, e a farci empatizzare con le piccole grandi storie di personaggi eminentemente umani per quanto ben lontani dal nostro vissuto (il che è la forma più bella di escapismo: quella che poi ci riporta a casa), ma a questo giro la nostra ha toccato due corde che per me valgono tanto: non solo The Dispossessed è uno racconto antropologico che contrappone una società liberal-capitalista post-scarsità (e in tralice la speculare società comunista autoritaria) a una comunità anarchica libertaria che sopravvive caparbia nella ristrettezza, non solo tanta parte del conflitto verte su come una società orizzontale e federativa può nondimeno ricadere nella gerarchia o comunque nella stagnazione, non solo ci sono scene straordinarie e terribili di vita agraria e di movida accademica – ma in più tutto questo lo esperiamo attraverso la storia di formazione del nostro buon Shevek, che a mio parere di uomo autistico è palesemente un individuo neurodivergente con la classica combinazione di interessi assorbenti + rispetto ingenuo per le regole + penetrante senso critico, e buona parte del suo viaggio personale consiste nel costruirsi una propria comunità stretta come punto di partenza per cambiare in meglio il suo mondo (e poi il suo sistema solare) un passo per volta. È stato straordinario sentirmi così rappresentato in Shevek e Takver che diventano il cuore aggregante della loro famiglia elettiva ad Abbenay, e commuovermi fino alle lacrime per le orazioni di Shevek sul senso della lotta odoniana e la volontà costantemente rinnovata di creare un mondo nuovo e migliore – un elogio dell'anarchia positiva più potente, poetico e toccante di mille manifesti. Certo, ci sono alcune piccole sbavature d'intreccio (o grandi, nel caso di una certa scena violenta nel capitolo otto), ma se ho apprezzato di gusto un grande romanzo antitetico alla mia sensibilità quale Starship Troopers a maggior ragione sarò clemente con un testo così tanto nelle mie corde e mi "limiterò" a problematizzarlo senza fustigarlo – e a recuperare opere che siano in continuità con questo filone.

Grazie di questo capolavoro, zia Ursula; i compagni e le compagne se ne vanno ma restano nei nostri cuori, e le nostre idee continuano a indirizzarci.

Jenny Jaybles reviewed The dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

I only had one problem with it

4 stars

Content warning Spoliers

I love Ursula but this has been my least liked book of hers so I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5. I enjoyed the heavy intellectual ideas. I enjoyed the romance. I was utterly destroyed that she made this main character who I had thoroughly liked, out of nowhere sexually assault a woman because he experiences alcohol for the first time in his life. The way it's written is really fucking blaming the woman victim character while our main character dude just gets to brush it off and go on with his life as the hero and doesn't even think about this incident for even one goddamn second for the rest of the book. I know Ursula took some serious thoughts about feminism later in life and made some apologies and changes in her writing with the Earthsea series which I thought was wonderful. I really wish she had taken the time to go back and edit or at least write an apology about this. It fucking sucks. The rest of the story is great. This one scene should be deleted. It's fucking horrible. And no it's totally not believable that creating an anarchist communist society would suddenly erase rape and that rape is just an invention of capitalism and greed. Yea no. I can't bite down on that idea at all. The other heavy ideas make sense but only up to a point and then it's just like trying to say capitalism causes humans to rape. Like no fuck you. Rapists are psychopaths. They are the same as murderers. They are born with it in their brain. They cannot feel empathy. They are predators. Society can't make them do it or not do it. They exist in every society through all time. They can't be fixed either. And a man who is absolutely loving to his true love, his little daughters will not just suddenly sexually assault a woman because he got exposed to capitalism and alcohol and "went crazy." Fucking bullshit rape apology sexist bullshit. And then feel absolutely no remorse about it? Cmon!!

Wolfgang Wopperer reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

One of my all-time favourite books

5 stars

Brilliant, complex and fearless imagination of an anarchist society. Probably one of the best books I've ever read.

Krousti_sarrasin@bookrastinating.com reviewed Les dépossédés by Ursula K. Le Guin

Anarchist Sci*FI / SF libertaire

5 stars

Le Guin was put the light on the despicable society whom is ours by describing through the eyes of an anarchist.

L'autrice met la lumière sur la méprisable société qui est la notre en décrivant à travers les yeux d'un anarchiste.

Le Guin was put the light on the despicable society whom is ours by describing through the eyes of an anarchist.

L'autrice met la lumière sur la méprisable société qui est la notre en décrivant à travers les yeux d'un anarchiste.

Antolius reviewed The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'The Dispossessed' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Good:
Speculative fiction at its finest.
Great society & world building, shown through a lens of a single life.
Two timelines nicely intertwine & support each other.
The scenes of hardship & revolution resonate deeply.
* Evokes the feeling of classic Sci-Fi without any problematic elements often associated with it.

Bad: ∅

For a depiction of a similar theme check out John Kessel's [b:The Moon and the Other|30753686|The Moon and the Other|John Kessel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491126501l/30753686.SY75.jpg|51302140].

exosferablog reviewed Los desposeídos by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'Los desposeídos' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Una obra que vuelve a usar la ciencia ficción como entrada pero que es un análisis y una reflexión sobre la sociedad, desde la luna Anarres, donde la sociedad se organiza en un modo anarquista/socialissta al planeta Urras, donde tras un conflicto estos últimos fueron expulsados y donde el planeta se organiza en base a oligopolios y un capitalismo salvaje. Como nexo entre ambos mundos el protagonista intenta establecer un diálogo, intentando propiciar el desarrollo de ambas sociedades con la colaboración científica. Un libro que no deja de ser una reflexión y un golpe sobre la mesa sobre la política, la sociedad y el papel de la ciencia y los científicos.